Even As We Speak hail from Sydney, Australia. Formed in the mid 1980s, founding members Matthew Love (guitar, banjo, vocals) and Mary Wyer (vocals, guitar) were later joined by Rob Irwin (bass) Anita Rayner (drums, banjo, mandolin), and Julian Knowles (guitar, keyboard, vocals, and production). Resisting neat labels, the band’s music is a quirky hybrid of accessible pop, ironic interjections, and experimental moments.

After a series of vinyl releases on Australian independent labels, including Phantom Records, and success on the Australian indie scene, they came to the attention of BBC Radio 1 DJ John Peel, who started playing the band’s Phantom Records release ‘Goes So Slow’ on his show. This brought them to the attention of UK audiences and began a relationship with UK label Sarah Records.

Their releases for Sarah in the early 90s shot them to prominence in the UK Independent music scene, achieving multiple top 10 positions in the NME and Melody Maker charts. Between 1992 and 1993, the group recorded three sessions for John Peel and one session for Mark Goodier at BBC Radio 1. They were among the few Australian bands to record Peel Sessions – others were The Birthday Party, The Triffids, The Go-Betweens and Laughing Clowns. The complete BBC sessions were released in 2014 as ‘Yellow Food: The Peel Sessions’.

Enthused about playing together again, the band returned to the studio to record a new 5 EP The Black Forest for Emotional Response Records– out on 10” Vinyl, CD and Digital. This is single is part of the band’s first release of new material since 1993 – a pure pop gem every bit as good as anything in their Sarah Records back catalogue.